Identity Work in Interdependent Professional Groups: The Role of a Target Identity in Enterprise Systems Implementation

Enterprise systems (ESs) can be important for the development and maintenance of professional role identities. Prior work shows that a new ES implementation can trigger significant identity work in individuals and groups if it alters their tasks or responsibilities. What has received less attention is that the introduction of a new ES may affect multiple, interdependent professional groups simultaneously, changing how these professional groups can or must interact based on the system properties. Consequently, the introduction of a new ES may also affect how these groups maintain distinctive professional role identities. This study examines how the introduction of a new ES affects the identity work of interdependent professional groups in an organization. Drawing on a revelatory context, we studied the identity work of management accountants and financial accountants in six cases where a new ES merged traditionally separate financial and management accounting modules into one general accounting module. To understand the emergent identity work, we present the construct of a target identity (i.e., a tentative enhanced professional role identity that professional groups actively strive to achieve) and describe three patterns of identity work. We derive five propositions about the conditions under which interdependent professional groups develop a target identity, about the consequences of (not) achieving a target identity, and about the willingness of interdependent professional groups to renegotiate their role boundaries.